Child molester sentenced to 25 years

Wednesday

Aug 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMAug 29, 2012 at 8:03 AM

A 12-year-old girl who was molested by an older man earlier this year, prosecutors said, knows more about what it means to be a mother than her own mother, who “turned her back” on the child after the incident occurred.

ROCCO LaDUCA

A 12-year-old girl who was molested by an older man earlier this year, prosecutors said, knows more about what it means to be a mother than her own mother, who “turned her back” on the child after the incident occurred.

In a letter read in Oneida County Court Wednesday, the girl told her abuser, Frederick Kimball, 47, that he turned her mother against her after Kimball was arrested for having sex with the girl in Verona in March.

The letter finished: “When I have my own kids one day, my heart will belong to them. I will care, support, love and protect them with everything I have.”

Moments later, after a mumbling apology, Kimball was sentenced by Judge Barry M. Donalty to 25 years in prison and 20 years of post-release supervision for first-degree criminal sexual act. An order of protection was also imposed prohibiting Kimball from have any contact with the girl for the next 50 years.

Kimball of Penneville was initially charged with predatory sexual assault against a child, which would have carried the same maximum 25-years-to-life sentence that someone would face if convicted of murder. He pleaded guilty, however, to a lesser charge.

Although Kimball denies having sex with the girl, his attorney, Thomas Ryan, clarified that Kimball says he only admitted to the sexual act to police in order to protect the girl’s reputation and keep her from getting “in trouble for lying.”

Prosecutors alleged that Kimball preyed upon the girl for several months leading up to the night the girl’s mother discovered Kimball having some sort of sexual contact in her house. The mother quickly called 911, but she later took Kimball’s side after his arrest, Lupi said.

“Mr. Kimball, you are not the victim,” Lupi told the defendant. “Plain and simple, Fred Kimball is a child molester.”